USING EYE-TRACKING TO INVESTIGATE TOPICS IN L2 ACQUISITION AND L2 PROCESSING

• Published in: Studies in second language acquisition Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 213 - 235
• Main Authors: Roberts, Leah, Siyanova-Chanturia, Anna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.06.2013; CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
• Subjects: Comparative Analysis; Comprehension; Eye Movements; Foreign language learning; Grammar; Individual Differences; Language Acquisition; Language Processing; Language Research; Linguistic Input; Meta Analysis; Metalinguistics; Monolingualism; Reading Processes; Reading Research; Reading Skills; Reading Strategies; Research Design; Research Methodology; Researchers; Second Language Learning; Task Analysis; Topics; Word Recognition
• ISSN: 0272-2631; 1470-1545
• DOI: 10.1017/S0272263112000861

Second language (L2) researchers are becoming more interested in both L2 learners’ knowledge of the target language and how that knowledge is put to use during real-time language processing. Researchers are therefore beginning to see the importance of combining traditional L2 research methods with those that capture the moment-by-moment interpretation of the target language, such as eye-tracking. The major benefit of the eye-tracking method is that it can tap into real-time (or online) comprehension processes during the uninterrupted processing of the input, and thus, the data can be compared to those elicited by other, more metalinguistic tasks to offer a broader picture of language acquisition and processing. In this article, we present an overview of the eye-tracking technique and illustrate the method with L2 studies that show how eye-tracking data can be used to (a) investigate language-related topics and (b) inform key debates in the fields of L2 acquisition and L2 processing.